And Then She Was Gone

She Took The Stairs

"Why are you being like this? I apologized to you, and from what I can remember, you didn't return the favor." There was a clear exasperation in her voice as she was seeming to get no where with him in her attempt to garner answers.

He stared for a full minute, not responding as his green eyes stared into hers. His own defenses beginning to falter as his eyes dropped to her lips, their fixation warming her body. From there his eyes rapidly descended to her mark quickly faltering to her dress which fit her so well, his lingering looks almost feeling as if they substituted for his touch, her skin having almost the same response as it would have if he had caressed her with his hands.

He had to concentrate his efforts in order to regroup himself, an immense strength being utilized to return his green eyes to her hazel ones, immediately diverting them finding them incredibly difficult to look at. "I don't know what you want from me." He said quietly, as he sidestepped her body and walked the last few steps to the elevator.

She stood there for a minute, with flushed cheeks and confusion laced in her eyes as he left her behind. Quickly, returning to her pursuit once she collected her own self after a moments pause. "I want you to explain to me what I did to make you act this way. You're obviously avoiding me and making yourself excessively busy so you don't have to deal with me. What did I do, Jason?"

"You didn't do anything." He said with his back to her. "And I'm done with this conversation." His eyes returning to his phone.

"I'm not done with it." She said sharply, beginning to lose her patience and her upset slowly crossing the line into anger.

"We'll talk about it later." He said back firmly.

"When?" She questioned in irritation with a flagrant hand wave showing her brewing frustration.

"Where the fuck is Mark?" Was all he said tuning her out in hopes that reprieve would be presented by his arrival.

"When, Jason?!" Her voice growing louder as he ignored her.

"This was a mistake." He said shaking his head, and his voice growing quiet. "I should never have brought you here." His eyes now looking at the ceiling as he took in slow deep breaths.

"..W-what?" Her voice wavered at his words, her eyes showing extreme hurt and upset as he sounded so resolute in his determination.

"I said I made a mistake, Elizabeth." His voice firming up now. "I assessed the situation wrong."

"A-are you saying..." she walking around to stand in front of him, his eyes once again faltering in his own internal direction to once again look into hers. "A-are you saying I-I'm the mistake?"

"I'm saying I assessed the situation wrong. The situation being us, this." His eyes looking away from her. "I'm thinking, maybe, I should send you back home to your Uncle."

She gasped at his words, her eyes trying to find his, but he finding the strength and refusing to maintain eye contact with her. She instantly filling with an immense anger at his clearly decided upon thought process, her hand going up and smacking him right across the face, a resounding sound of her hand slapping his cheek filling the air. "You son of a bitch. After everything you put me through, now you decide that you're done?!" She spat at him through gritted teeth.

She was expecting him to be angry, she was expecting him to push her up against the wall, she expected him to rigidly tower over her with the sheer intent of intimidation. However, all she received was deflated shoulders as his hands went into his pockets and a flicker of immense hurt in his eyes as his cheek reddened from her direct hit.

"I'll make the arrangements for your travel when I get back to the office. Mark will take you and make sure you're safe on the way home." He didn't return his eyes to hers.

"Drop dead Jason." She said storming off to the stairway entrance she saw when she originally entered, if he was done with her she was done with him and his stupid fucking security detail.

He didn't pursue her, he just let her go. After a few moments longer of silence the elevator chimed signaling the doors were opening. Mark standing with two cups of coffee in his hand and immediately taking notice she wasn't there, noticing Jason failing to maintain a control on his rapidly crumbling features with a hand depressed firmly against his eyes trying to hold back his own tears.

"Dude. What the fuck happened?! Are you alright? Where's Elizabeth?!" Mark said with wide eyes his voice frantic at the sight of his best friend and the absence of his mate.

"She took the stairs." Jason said his hand now delving deeply back into a tight grip on his hair, his eyes brimming with the salty liquid blurring his vision and reddening his eyes as he was struggling to hold it bay. "Go catch up with her and take her back to my parents. I'm sending her back to Pennsylvania." Jason said stepping into the elevator not making eye contact with him either, Mark carelessly dropping the coffee to splash on the hospital floor as he bolted out and took immediate action in response to the scene he walked into.

As soon as he depressed the ground floor button and the elevator began to descend down the height of the building, he stopped its motion by hitting the emergency stop button mid level. His back falling against the cold metal wall as his knees collapsed beneath him, his body finding itself seated with bent knees an arm limply extended across one knee as the other utilized a hand to depress deeply at his eyes. Finally, he broke down and allowed himself to cry for the first time since he was a small child in the echoing isolation of the four metal walls of the halted elevator.

He couldn't give her what she needed. He never seemed to do anything right when it came to her. They would have extreme highs and extreme lows, he feeling his heart shattering every time it was apparent that he was more closely bonded to her than she was to him. He found himself unable to adapt to her perception on relationships and would hurt her over and over again, thus hurting himself at greater magnitude in light of the fact that he could cause so much hardship and upset on his own mate.

She was like a drug to him, and one that quickly built up a tolerance in his system, wanting more and more of her with each moment he spent with her. She being a toxic substance that made him lose control of his emotions and sensibilities in his never ending pursuit for just one more taste. He became excessively possessive when around her, lashing out irrationally when he would inevitably be faced with another scenario with just how different their worlds were.

She held such a power over him that he had never experienced before. He was always strong, stout and resolute and yet she had the ability to turn him into a monster with a few harshly stated words. He couldn't bear to love someone so fiercely who in comparison loved him so little. He couldn't handle that reality.

He actually found an empty shelled peace during his absence from her. He once again found clarity of his own thoughts as he delved back just as vigorously into his responsibilities as he was before he had found her, making him wish he never did. With each text he read and then ignored, and each ring of the phone sounding in his ear as she tried to call, his eyes fixating on the illuminated screen, he was reminded of just how little control he had of himself when it came to her. It took every fiber of his being to ignore her reaching out, and he would once again have to collect himself finding himself distracted all over again.

It was better this way. She could go and be happy in the life that was molded for her, and he could live in emptiness but be able to maintain his duties to the pack he worked so hard to grow and shape. His own needs were not greater than those who depended on him for guidance, and he was no longer going to be selfish. He wasn't going to hold her back and force her into a life she didn't want and he wasn't going to allow his pack to suffer in his turbulence of emotions due to his own crippling addiction to the young beautiful blonde.

This was for the best, but that didn't mean that he would feel any less devastated in having to let her go.